Fans attending sports events such as automobile races or baseball, hockey, and football games typically have a strong desire to show support for their favorite team. Support for a favorite team is generally demonstrated by waving banners or by wearing caps, helmets and other articles of clothing bearing a team indicia or logo. Even if they are not athletically active themselves, dedicated fans may also decorate their cars and the living areas of their homes with posters, models, toys, sports equipment, and other articles to display their affection for their favorite sport and/or sports teams.
None of the objects discussed above, however, allow the sports fan to express his or her support for the team at home or at the stadium using the shapes of two distinct objects associated with a particular sporting activity or team. The closet prior art device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,938, issued also to the inventor of the present invention. In the '938 patent, there is disclosed an educational toy in which the shape, for example, of an animal can be replaced with that of a globe bearing geographical indicia reflecting the habitat of that animal. The toy is changed by pushing a portion forming one of the shapes into the internal hollow of a portion defining the other of the shapes. A closure fastener is provided for closing the aperture which provided access to the internal hollow. Though well adapted for use in an educational toy, the shapes used in the '938 patent do not suggest utilizing a common activity as the underlying basis for both shapes, nor do they address the needs of the fan to demonstrate support for a particular sport, team or athlete.
Reference to the aforementioned '938 patent will uncover cites to references disclosing other prior art toy articles adapted to assume the shape of two distinct objects. Among the references cited therein are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,413,442, 4,614,505, 4,695,264, 4,715,840, 4,734,075, and 4,842,565. The '442 patent, for example, discloses a toy figure that can be changed from one discrete shape (e.g., an egg) to another distinct configuration (e.g., an animal such as a duck). The toy is changed by folding back the outer covering of the egg and pushing the body portion of the animal through a hole in the egg covering. The portion of the covering that has been folded back is then locked in place by hook and loop strips to maintain the article in the shape of the animal. Although the shapes of the bird and the egg disclosed in the '442 patent are conceptually related in a natural sense, there is no suggestion for providing an article which can be changed to assume the shape of two distinct objects associated with the same activity, and more particularly with the same sports activity or sports team.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to create a changeable toy article which is transformable from a first shape associated with a specific activity to a second shape associated with that activity.
It is another object of the present invention to allow the fan of a sports activity to demonstrate support for a particular team, sport, and/or athlete at home or at the stadium using the shapes of two distinct objects associated with that team, sport, and/or athlete.